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It almost makes one hunger for real socialized medicine, the fictitious boogeyman of the far right. You see, if we really had this, then maybe someone would have to adequately tell us how consumers benefit from three children's hospitals in San Antonio.

Forgive me. I'm about to harsh the community's mellow on this topic.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently allowed San Antonio's medical school to partner with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the parent company of the Baptist Health System to build a new freestanding academic children's hospital here.

We might simply chalk this up to an embedded belief in Texas that more competition — even in health care — equals improved service. There is reason to believe, however, that what we will have in San Antonio is really just more competition for philanthropic dollars, not improved care.

“Florida health planners twice rejected Nemours' applications for a new hospital, noting that Orlando already had two children's hospitals; most cities have only one. A third hospital could duplicate existing services, driving up costs for insurers, employers and policyholders.”

A pro-Methodist bias? In a long chat with him, I found a knowledgeable observer of the local health scene. He first caught my attention with an op-ed in this newspaper that swam against the current on this issue.

There will be two principle effects, he said, of this plethora of hospitals.

“They (won't) do as complete a job on the sophisticated end of this,” he said. “And there won't be enough left of income to spend on the primary care end.”

And, he added, “The goal becomes to win.” Cutthroat competition, in other words.

Trip Pilgrim is senior vice president and chief development officer at Vanguard Health Systems, Baptist's parent company. He has a different take. He sees an expanded array of assets for all of South Texas, not just San Antonio, offered by a new research medical center that will compete with like-minded facilities nationally to become top ranked.

He cites as examples how San Antonio once didn't have chest pain and stroke centers but, each of one got started, and others joined in to provide more services.

This is apples to oranges.

There are a finite number of children, and they are among the healthiest folks in our population. There's an abundance of unhealthy adults aplenty at risk for heart and stroke problems. We are talking plain and simple here of overcapacity with three children's hospitals.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who supports the UT regents' decision, acknowledges that the betting out there is that this competition will result in one of the two teaching hospitals — what Christus' hospital would be if it seals a deal with another university — prevailing. But that would still leave two hospitals standing.

There should be more debate, and a key question remains: Is this really best for San Antonio? Get past the rah-rahs, and that really hasn't been answered.